Black and Gold Victory Brownies

So, you may have noticed that the New Orleans Saints are going to be in the Superbowl for the very first time in their 43 year history. To say that New Orleanians are excited about this is an enormous understatement. It has been said that New Orleans has two religions, Catholicism and Football, and I think they may be overstating the catholic part. People here took to the streets, cried, hugged strangers, and shot fireworks when the Saints won the national football league conference championship game.

For most of this fall complete strangers would decide to have football related conversations with me in unlikely locations. For example, once I was greeted with an enthusiastic "Who Dat!" at the gas pump. Another time a man and I had an in depth discussion of passing tactics in the deli line at Wall-mart. I am not exactly sure why, but for some reason it was clear to the true locals that I was following the football season closely. Colin were I listening to every game on WWL "the Saints radio network", hosted by Bobby Hebert (pronounced Ea-Bear) the "Cajun Cannon" and Hokie Gajan, both former Saints players. We really enjoyed listening to the games, but we missed being able to see the plays being discussed due to our lack of a functioning tv. For the NFC championship game we went to a friend's house and were able to actually see the game. I made brownies to celebrate this, and thus the Black and Gold Victory Brownie was born. Basically these are Nigella Lawson's super delicious brownies with peanut butter and Reece's peanut butter cups added. I have included the recipe below, but I warn you that they are not for the faint of heart.

Side view of Victory Brownies, showing their height and composition.

Top view, showing decoration using peanut butter cups

Black and Gold Victory Brownies

• 13 ounces best quality bittersweet chocolate
• 1 2/3 cups softened butter
• 6 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 medium sized bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups
• 2 cups natural ground peanut butter

1. Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9 x 13" pan.

2. In a double-boiler, or a small pan melt the butter and chocolate.

3. Whisk until well blended and let cool.

4. While chocolate is melting, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla until frothy and slightly lighter in color.

5. Gently fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs, and whisk until well blended.

6. Fold in the flour and salt and mix well.

7. Add 1 cup of the peanut butter to the batter and mix well.

8. Cut up about half of the Reece’s peanut butter cups into fourths.

9. Gently stir in the quartered Reece’s peanut butter cups.

10. Pour into the baking dish and cook until a crust forms on top.

11. When cool, frost with remaining peanut butter and dot with remaining peanut butter cups.